Mobile consumer devices, such as cell phones, media players, and tablet computers, typically incorporate a camera module so that a device may also be used as a camera. These types of devices are increasingly designed to be thinner and incorporate smaller and/or thinner components. Current camera modules are simple axial optical systems and the optical axis through the camera lens is perpendicular to the face of a device, such as when a device is integrated with a camera in a front or back of the device. The camera lens is stacked on top of an image sensor that captures an image which is focused through the camera lens. This thickness or depth of a camera module that includes a camera lens, an image sensor, and circuit board is commonly referred to as the z-height (e.g., in the z-axis) of the camera module. The z-height of conventional camera modules may exceed the thickness of the devices that are increasingly designed to be thinner and incorporate the smaller and/or thinner components.
Further, consumers typically prefer cameras that are designed with more megapixels for sharper images. However, the size of a camera lens in a camera module is based on the size of the image sensor, and as image sensors increase in pixel count, they also increase in size to accommodate more megapixels. Consumer preferences for thinner devices with better cameras are adverse design limitations. Cameras that have more megapixels also incorporate a larger camera lens, which increases the z-height of a camera module. Further, to implement a zoom lens, the camera lens in a camera module moves away from the image sensor to effectuate magnification of an image. If the camera lens does not protrude out from the device when zooming, then the zoom mechanism integrated into a device will increase the thickness of the device.